County Commissioners discuss CETRZ

Brian Rash

Posted:
01/24/2014 09:00:00 PM CST

After waiting the requisite 30 days following their Dec. 23 public hearing, the Young County Commissioners Court will hold a meeting Monday morning, Jan. 27, to discuss setting up CETRZ projects around the county.

Young County is eligible for about $577,000 in state money allocated through SB 1747, which set aside $225 million for county roads statewide damaged by oil and gas industry vehicles.

Under the guidelines established by SB 1747, counties must provide 20 percent in addition to the total grant money allocated them, which brings the total amount Young County may spend on road repair to roughly $700,000.

The funding is also set up as a billing-style arrangement, meaning that once the roads are repaired, Young County will then send the state an invoice for reimbursement. Commissioner Mike Sipes has stated publicly that while this amount likely covers less than 10 percent of needed road repairs in Young County, it is still much appreciated.

The Young County Commissioners Court discussed the issue further during its Monday morning, Jan. 13 meeting. At that meeting, each county commissioner stated that there were several roads they would like to have repaired within each precinct, with Commissioner Matt Pruitt personally saying that he had an extensive list of roads needing repair within precinct two. It was established at the end of the meeting that simplicity would be the best approach.

“I think that we would avoid complications if we split the money by four,” Commissioner Mike Sipes said, though no conclusive action was taken on the division of funding.

County Judge John Bullock said that the process of dividing money is likely not as cut and dry as a one time allocation.